DRK magic, what do we really want?

ok so a lot gets tossed back and forth about DRKs and magic, and I see so many people outside of DRK players saying things that seem utterly retarded, like trying to increase DRKs magic burst damage for elemental magic

so what do DRK players want? Heres my ideas:

ignore DRK elemental magic completely

give DRK a darkness based nuke that is also based off of dark magic skill, moderate MP cost low casting time (The oft referenced Darkness/Darkness II)

Give DRK a trait that removes the decay on absorb spells and makes them last longer

I shall begin with 'ignore elemental magic' ; I'm going to say simply NO. A Dark Knight's very first baby spell is Stone, just like a BLM. In fact a Dark's spell progression with a few tossed in dark magic spells is similar but rightly discrepant as Dark's are supposed to be black magic specialists. If we have to be burdened with Elemental magic, then I would ask for native magic attack bonus - Not a lot, even one or two tiers would be nice to reflect the similar training a DRK undertakes to balance their combative skills with magical harassment.

Secondly, Darkness/Darkness 2 ... if they don't suck like everything else dark based I'll be down with that. But as a nuke without native MAB to give it any punch, you are wasting time and MP.

Bio 3 - Hell no, DRK is not a RDM and no one gives a flying apkallu butt about reducing a mob's attack outside of a solo situation, especially with a DRK's paltry enfeeble C skill. Would it be fun for solo .. maaaybe but no.

Epic thumbs up on reducing the decay on Absorb spells and increasing the duration. It would give more reason to cast them, actual utility. YES, please.

Decrease the recast timer on ALL dark magic for Dark Knight ONLY.

They said something about giving Darks a fast cast trait for dark magic but good re-iteration. Dark Celerity, yes yes yes yes!!

As for the Hasso thing ... eh it's possible to make use of your magic with it up. But considering most DRKs can't understand why they have an MP pool it's been a non issue in my experience unless your healer sucks.

Bio 3 - Hell no, DRK is not a RDM and no one gives a flying apkallu butt about reducing a mob's attack outside of a solo situation, especially with a DRK's paltry enfeeble C skill. Would it be fun for solo .. maaaybe but no.

I have 5/5 Desperate Blows. I usually use Seigan unless I'm WSing constantly. Hasso and Seigan recasts and casts could have just applied to Ninjitsu only, since that was all they were really targeting. It really is a hindrance to DRK since you are going to go /SAM to almost everything since it is pretty much broken good.

Originally Posted by Rampage

An ability to make next dark magic spell quickcast. A drk magic based nuke that costs 250mp.

These spells would give our elemental magic a little boost and if you make em stack with regular absorbs we could be looking at pretty nice stat boosts.

Yeah so Absorb-MDB, 1 spell. Got it. Sounds like a winner.

I don't really want more elemental magic emphasis because it isn't optimized for AO. Anything that DRK gets, spell-wise should provide utility or be catered to AO. It's not like the job is lacking in damage.

Darkness I/II. High MP, Quick Casting Time. Make it happen and DRKs will cast so long as the damage is decent. It makes for a very convenient way to jump your TP up to the next WS. Absorb-TP is more for TP suppression, which is fine if you can find a DRK or /DRK willing to cycle it in.

For new additions, I'd like more enfeeblement type absorbs, much like Absorb-ACC which is a pseudo blind. I honestly dunno why we haven't gotten more... Absorb-ACC just seems so random compared to the other absorbs. I always felt it was the start of the second tier of absorbs, where we'd get Absorb-ATK, Absorb-DEF and so on.

As I said in some post ages ago, Absorb-SPD should have a new unique boost/down effect that's independant of Slow/Haste. It would inflict Speed Down and give the DRK Speed Boost. This way it doesn't hinder other jobs roles. If you're really worried about balance and having mobs attacking too slow, put it in the same spot as Elegy as Elegy isn't as commonly used as Slow due to PTs not always having a BRD. And Absorb-PHYS would just be great to have not just for offensive purposes, but for defensive as well. And other melee would love DRKs for it. Even if it's only -/+ 5% (But 10% would be nice...).

Any of these would be useful in party situations because they boost not only the DRK, but other jobs in the group, and would give DRK that unique edge it needs, instead of being "just another DD". I'd like to point out to the devs that BLU has many of these enfeeblements as additional effects on their spells, so it's not like it'd break the game if DRK got absorbs at least equal to those (Acrid Stream is MDEF-10, Frightful Roar is DEF-15%, for example). Acrid Stream's MDEF down seems to land with high reliability from what I've seen on my BLU, even on tougher mobs, and if our previous absorbs are any indication, we'd a harder time dealing with resists than a BLU would. So why can't we have 'em?

Changes to current spells that I'd like to see would be reductions in recasts for Drain II and Dread Spikes...

Drain II should be 1 min 30 seconds. It's not even that much stronger than Drain itself and the HP boost lasts for such a short time that it's not gonna make or break anything. Also keep in mind that Drain (Both of 'em) always seem to get resisted a lot on the tougher mobs, so being able to use Drain II twice as much isn't gonna break the game.

Dread Spikes should be changed to 1 min 30 sec recast, and at very least it's duration (If not taking hits) should be increased to 3 mins like any other spikes spell so that it can be kept up ahead of pulling hate. I'd personally like to see it absorb only 50% of damage taken too so it lasts twice as long while taking hits as well, but that's just me. I think it wearing off after absorbing 50% of maximum HP is still ok.

I also recall SE saying DRK was getting the equivalent of Elemental Celerity for Dark Magic spells, and that they were abolishing the decay on absorbs. It currently feels like these have been forgotten, but perhaps Camate can reconfirm this for us?

Also, as other have mentioned, Darkness/Darkness II nukes would be fantastic. BLU also has a full line of Darkness nukes (Death Ray, Eyes on Me, Everyone's Grudge, Dark Orb), and we're not even asking for stuff that's equally powerful, just something useful. Make them as strong as Thunder II and Thunder III, but maybe give them naturally high magic accuracy. After all, the darkness element in FF11 is often related to the Magic Accuracy stat, especially as shown by the magian trial weapons, so why not?

Omg yes to Darkness I/II. 200/250MP and as fast as Dia while dealing bare minimum no less than a crit on an attack(not Apoc super crit mind you) is what they need to be.

For years I have always wanted Absorb-SPD/Haste. It just makes sense and yes should stack with other forms of slow. If they're worried about too much slow on a mob being broke, make a "Slow cap" on mobs like how there is a Haste cap(retarded) on PCs, fixed.

A JA that I thought of that I think would be amazing for DRK would be to make the next offensive spell we cast become an En-spell. The thread is Symbiosis of Might and Magic if you want to take a look. I think it would help DRKs a lot.

Warp Come on~! We should so have this!(yes I know it's enhancing magic, but Dia used to be Divine and was changed to Enfeebling, just change Warp to Dark Magic and give us just Warp 1!)

I do like just about everything I've read so far as well and agree with what I like. Yes I believe that our absorbs should be both fixed and expanded upon. 1 thing I though that people haven't noted upon is faster absorb spells. Yes they said we are getting Dark Celerity(or something similar) but I think the dark spells should naturally be cast faster, especially when we are casting spells in the middle of combat(or if we are, which SE apparently wants us to do).

And maybe a spell to help with our hate. Maybe we could use the hate that we have gained to deal damage then wipe our hate? Make it a fairly long recast so that it can't be spammed(because DRK can definitely cap hate in a heartbeat), but still make the damage when using it desirable enough to cast it. Or maybe just shred all or half our hate onto another pt member(becoming the tanks best friend haha, or a magekiller LOL!), but I personally like the first idea.